The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday suspended Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order that de-notified 70 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs who resigned in April 2022.

The lawmakers had taken part in a mass resignation following the vote of no-confidence against PTI Chairman Imran Khan that ousted him as prime minister of Pakistan.

In its order, the court wrote “the process of by-elections to these seats shall remain suspended”.

LHC suspends ECP’s order de-notifying 43 PTI MNAs

The court sought replies from National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, the ECP and the federal government by March 7.

Since the mass resignation, the resignation of a total of 80 MNAs was accepted – 69 were accepted last month and 11 in July last year. These members were de-notified by the ECP immediately after the speaker accepted them.

NA Speaker accepts resignations of 43 more PTI MNAs

However, later, PTI’s Asad Umar said that 44 PTI lawmakers decided to withdraw their resignations from the National Assembly.

On February 8, the LHC suspended a similar order that de-notified 43 PTI lawmakers. The high court also put by-elections in 43 constituencies on hold.

Subsequently, the remaining lawmakers had approached LHC challenging the acceptance of their resignations.